ANAHEIM – One by one, the members of the U.S team walked into the clubhouse at Angel Stadium, their eyes growing bigger and bigger as they took in their digs for Sunday’s 2010 Futures Game.

Every one of them represented the best American prospect from their respective organizations – their opponents from the World team made up of players born outside the United States – an honor earned on minor league fields across the country, their talents and skills honed and sharpened in small towns such as Wilmington, Del., New Britain, Conn., and St. Lucie, Fla.

They are baseball’s stars of the future, ambiguous to us now but in a few years names that might roll off our tongues as easily as Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard.

But on this day, they were a bunch of little kids on Christmas morning, looking around the Angels clubhouse as if it was the lobby of the Ritz Carlton.

Everything about the place was top-notch, clean and splendid.

The carpet was thick and plush, the space open and welcoming.

A pair of lush sofas offered comfortable seating, not to mention a perfect view of the two big-screen TVs, and at each locker stall players’ names were etched on personalized plaque cards, their uniforms and gear arraigned neatly and professionally inside.

And for every single player there seemed to be a clubhouse attendant waiting on their every whim.

Make no mistake, this place is home to a Major League Baseball club, a palace fit for a king.

And the players soaked it all in in wonderment.

“You don’t see this in Double-A, that’s for sure,” said former Chatsworth High star Mike Moustakas, now the top prospect in the Kansas City Royals organization.

Over in one corner, Dodgers Double-A shortstop Dee Gordon could not wipe the smile off his face.

It’s not like Gordon has never been in a major-league clubhouse before, his father Tom spending 21 years in the big leagues as a relief pitcher and Dee accompanying him to work for about as long as he can remember.

“I’ve definitely been in my share of them,” Dee Gordon said.

But this was different, Gordon arriving at Angel Stadium on Sunday on his own merit, his own talent, not as a little kid toting around with his old man.

A fourth-round pick in 2008 out of Southeastern University, Gordon has quickly established himself as one of the Dodgers’ best young prospects, and certainly it’s most exciting.

After playing 60 games in rookie ball in 2008, when he hit .331 with a .371 on-base percentage, Gordon took off in Single-A Great Lakes last year, batting .301 with 162 hits – 12 of those triples – and scoring 96 runs while leading the Midwest League with 73 stolen bases.

The impressive performance earned the left-handed hitting Gordon the Dodgers’ Minor League Player of the Year honors, and just as important vaulted him onto baseball’s top young players to watch list.

He came into this season as the 36th-best prospect according to MLB.com, and though the jump to Double-A Chattanooga has resulted in a dip in batting average (.279) and OBP (.332), he’s still on pace for more than 70 stolen bases.

There are no guarantees, but his play could certainly merit aSeptember call-up, his speed and defense perhaps seen as attractive attributes off the bench for the Dodgers.

Not bad for a kid who didn’t even pick up baseball until high school, someone who was considered a raw prospect with tools and even a bit of a reach when the Dodgers took him with the 127th pick overall.

But his play has warranted his selection, as evidenced by his growing stature in the game and his spot in the Futures Game, a platform current stars like Miguel Cabrera, Evan Longoria, Joe Mauer and Josh Beckett used to propel themselves into the big leagues.

The illustrious list of alumni from the 12-year old showcase is not lost on Gordon, who learned of his selection when he walked into the clubhouse in Chattanooga last month and found an envelope sitting at his locker.

“I opened it up and it read `Congratulations, you have been named to the 2010 Futures Game,”‘ Gordon remembered, smiling broadly.

“I was pretty happy, as you can imagine,” Gordon added. “Just to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the guys that have played in this game, it’s just a tremendous honor. It’s definitely not something you take for granted, just because of the history of who has actually played in this game.”

But it’s more than just an honor to put on a resume, and as Gordon looked around the spacious clubhouse in Anaheim you could almost sense the wheels spinning in his head.

When you get a taste of life at this level – even as a minor leaguer and even for just one day – the incentive to return full time gets amped up even more.

“First of all, you can get used to this real easily,” Gordon said. “Just looking at this clubhouse and the stadium itself, everything is first class, so it’s easy to want to be a part of it.

“But more importantly, it just makes you want to work that much harder to actually get to the big leagues at some point. Every player in this room, that is the goal, to reach the major leagues. That is what we play for.”

Despite the fact his father pitched two decades in the big leagues, following him onto the mound was never a consideration, nor did his dad ever push him toward it.

“He respected my decision to play a position,” Gordon said, “and it’s worked out pretty well.”

His slight build will never get Gordon into any home-run hitting contests, but his ability to spray line drives definitely helps project him as a gap hitter, and with that speed – he’s been clocked at 6.35 in the 60-yard dash and typically sits at 4.1 and 4.2 out of the batter’s box to first base – will definitely result in plenty of infield hits and stolen bases.

Gordon will get to the big leagues on his legs, defense and quick bat, and how long he eventually stays resting on his how quickly and how well he makes the necessary adjustments.

But all that will be determined in due time.

On Sunday, Gordon just wanted to enjoy the experience – going 1 for 2 with a run scored – and soak in all the sights and sounds.

Vincent Bonsignore is an NFL columnist for the Southern California News Group. Having covered the Los Angeles sports scene for more than two decades, Bonsignore has emerged as one of the leading voices on the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, the NFL and NFL relocation.